Inquiries about the history of the
Balts have been made by a number of
Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Swedish, German, Polish, and Russian
archeologists, linguists, and historians; despite this, so far there
has been no summarizing study dealing with the Balts. Dr. M. Gimbutas,
presently a professor of archeology at the University of California,
made an attempt to provide such a highly needed study in the English
language. She has subdivided her work into eight main chapters, which
will be discussed individually.

I.
Linguistic
and Historic
Background. This chapter surveys the
findings of linguistic and historical studies, particularly as they
bear on the question of boundaries of the area inhabited by the Balts.
The name 'Balts' refers to a group of people belonging to one
linguistic group of the Indo-European family, including the present-day
Lithuanians and Latvians, and the Prussians that existed before 1700
A.D. However, the name of these people has not come down through either
linguistic or historic channels. The neologism 'Balts' prevails in
scientific literature and is derived from the Latin name for the Baltic
Sea — Mare
Balticum. A Lithuanian linguist, K. Buga, has
suggested the name 'Aistians', taken from the Roman historian Tacitus,
who in the book Germania
(98 A.D.) mentioned gentes
Aestiorum,
residing on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. This name, however,
did not meet with general acceptance. Further in the chapter, M.
Gimbutas mentions where and when the separate Baltic tribes come into
the light of history. She ascribes to the eastern Balts the Neuri,
first mentioned by Herodotus in the 5th century B.C. (unfortunately,
the question of their nationality is not settled beyond doubt). Moving
through the centuries, she mentions the two Prussian tribes known to
Ptolemy in the second century A.D., the Sudovians and Galindians; the
Curonians
noted in the Scandinavian sagas of the 7th century;
Prussians,
whose name appears in the 9th century in the
writings of the so-called Bavarian Geographer; Semigallians in 870
A.D.;
Lithuanians
and Lettigallians
in the 11th century; and, finally,
Galindians
(Goljad'), mentioned in Russian sources in 1058 and 1147 as
living to the west of Moscow. However, these early sources are of
little help in understanding the culture of the ancient Balts. The
geographic area inhabited by the Balts can be much more fruitfully
determined by the distribution of river-and place-names of Baltic
origin. M. Gimbutas has drawn a map Of the Baltic territory (Fig. 2,
pp. 30-31); this map is quite accurate and only needs some slight
adjustments along the Warsaw- Kiev- Kursk- Moscow line, since the Balts
did not reach as far east at all points as indicated. Whether the river
Desna may be rightfully related to the Lithuanian word
"dešinė" (the
right side) and Volga to "ilgas" (long) should be decided upon
further study by linguists.

II.
Baltic Origins.
The question of Baltic origins is
inherently tied to the question of the
Indo-European homeland. After mentioning
those places where the Indo-European- homeland has been previously
sought (north Pontic area, Central Asia, Lithuania, Eurasiatic
steppes), M. Gimbutas argues that around 2300-2200 B.C.,
there was an expansion of an entirely new culture from the steppe zone
north of the Black Sea and beyond the Volga into the
Balkans, the Aegean area and Western Anatolia and, soon thereafter,
into Central and Baltic Europe. These were the Eurasiatic 'Kurgan'
culture
people, who possessed vehicles and knowledge of animal husbandry,
farmed on a small scale, and were organized into small patriarchal
communities. These
Indo-Europeans, although closely related at first, resolved into a
number
of separate groups once they left their homland and
mixed with the local European cultures, forming in the first century of
the second millenium B.C. the nuclear units
of the later Balts, Germanic, Slavic, and other peoples. The specific
group of Indo-Europeans that
evolved into the proto-Balts proceeded from the
lower Dnieper basin in the direction of Central Europe and up to the
Baltic Sea. Some of them even reached southwestern Finland; A second,
related group moved from the
middle Dnieper to the upper Dnieper, upper Volga, and the Oka river
area in central Russia (Fat'janavo culture). In all these areas, the
new settlers, the so-called
Corded-Ware or Battle-Axe culture people, found hunter-fishers, known
in archeological literature as the Comb-marked Pitted-Ware culture
people. The new settlers appear to have been Eoropoid in physical type
and seem to have engaged in farming, raising cattle, pigs, sheep,
goats, horses, dogs, sowing wheat and millet grains. Archeological
excavations in Pomerania and East Prussia (Rzucewo, Succase) indicate
that these people lived
in permanent villages and buried their dead uncremated, in burrows.

III.
The Bronze and the
Early Iron Age of the Maritime
Balts. Around 1800 B.C., the Balts became acquainted with
metal. From
the very beginning, the Balts became divided into two zones of
influence. During the entire
Bronze Age, the western zone was under the influence of the Central
European metallurgical center, while the eastern zone retained its
archaic character, with only slight influence from its southern
neighbors. This cultural differentiation was maintained throughout the
remaining prehistoric times. The western Balts, i.e., the ancestors of
the Prussians, were culturally similar to the inhabitans of central
Europe (Illyrians, Celts) and to their western neighbors, the Germanic
peoples; the eastern Balts, (Lithuanians, Letts) were in close
association with Finno-Ugrians, Cimmerians, proto-Scythians, and early
Slavs. The Maritime Balts developed a lively trade in amber with
central Europe, the people of Uneticean culture (amber has been found
even in Mycenaean graves in Greece). Amber was also shipped to northern
neighbors, to northwestern Russia, even to the central Ural region.
Toward the end of the Bronze Age, amber spread even to the eastern
shores of the Adriatic, and is especially prevalent in the Etruscan
graves in Italy. The dead continued to be buried in burrows, surrounded
by two or three stone rings. However, around the 12th century B.C.,
cremation of the dead became an established custom. House-urns
penetrated into the western Baltic culture around the 7th century B.C.,
while the so-called Face-urns appeared around the 6th-5th century B.C.,
spreading from central Europe.

In the early Iron Age, the Balts
began to subdivide: slowly
they split
into Galindians, Sudovians, Sembian-Notangians, Curonians,
Lithuanians. The Baltic expansion is depicted in two maps (Fig. 10, p.
63 and Fig. 24, p. 83). The first map shows the maximum spread of
Baltic culture during the Bronze Age. The extension of boundaries to
the lower Oder, Carpathians, Kiev, Kursk, and especially for 400 km.
along the Urals in this map requires more substantial evidence based on
archeological findings. This criticism also holds true for the northern
boundary. It is still uncertain whether the Fat'janovo culture people
belong to the Baltic culture group or are only related to it. The
question of the assignation of the Face-urns culture group to the Balts
has not been archeologically settled either (Fig. 24), and the Neuri
correspondence to the eastern Balts is also questionable.

IV.
The Bronze and the Early
Iron Age of the Eastern Balts.
Unfortunately, insufficient archeological evidence exists about the
culture of the eastern Balts. Systematic archeological excavations have
been started in those extensive lands only recently. Consequently, the
author was able to describe the culture of the eastern Balts only in
general terms, and her account will eventually have to be filled in
with greater detail. As long as the archeological material of this
period remains inadequately studied, the question of the eastern limit
of the Baltic culture remains unsettled, especially since the question
of the Slavic expansion into the lands of the eastern Balts remains
open.

V.
The "Golden Age".
This age refers
to the period from the 2nd to the 5th century A.D., which saw
developments in agriculture and local metallurgy in connection with the
extensive amber trade, especially with the provinces of the Roman
Empire and Free Germany. In the map on pp. 110-111 (Fig. 36), M.
Gimbutas shows
a well-consolidated area of Baltic culture within more conservative
boundaries; the Balts are portrayed as reaching only the lower Vistula
in the West and the Narew-Bug confluence in the southwest; the Pripet
swamp
area is rightfully excluded from the Baltic lands in the south, so that
they reach only the confluence of Berezina and Dnieper
rivers; the boundary follows the rivers Sozh, Desna, and the
Oka basin, extending almost to Moscow in the east, reaching the upper
Volga in the north, then follows approximately the present Latvian -
Estonian border. Unfortunatly, in the key, No. 2 is interchanged with
No. 5, interchanging the eastern Slavs with the
Finno-Ugrians.

During this period, ornaments and
jewelry types were
especially varied.
In connection with the amber trade with the Roman Provinces and with
Rome itself, many imported articles found their way into the Baltic
lands: bronze and silver Roman coins, fibulae, glass
beads, bronze
vessels, terrasigillata
pots, oil-lamps, etc. The author provides
well-selected illustrations of the more characteristic ornaments,
mentioning finds from graves of the wealthy, such as the double graves
of Veršvai (near Kaunas) and Upytė (Near Panevežys), and the
princely burials of Szwajcoria (near Suwalki).

VI.
The Baltic "Middle Iron
Age". In this period (400-800
A.D.), the Prussians and Curonians played a leading role among
the Balts. The continuity of culture among the various Baltic tribes is
clearly discernible; however, burial rites become
differentiated. The material culture evidenced new forms: an
abundance of silver articles stems from
this period, althought the ornamentation
slowly becomes somewhat less fine. Knowledge of the eastern Balts again
suffers due to lack of excavation in those areas.

The middle iron age is marked by two
important developments:
the Slavic
expansion into the eastern Baltic states around 400 A.D. and the
Scandinavian-German expansion to the East Baltic coast around the
middle of the 7th century. The Balts lost much eastern territory to the
Slavs. A map on p. 150 shows that in the 10th - 12th century the Baltic
boundaries ran almost along a straight line from Pskov to Minsk in the
east, reaching Narew and lower Vistula in the south. The eastern Baltic
areas were occupied by Vjatichi, Krivichi, Radimichi, Dregovichi, etc.
Shortlived Scandinavian colonies were established in Grobin,
Sauslau-kas (in Latvia), Viskiauten (in Samland), Truso near Elbing,
and so on.

VII.
The Balts Before the
Dawn of History. In
the period between 800 -1200 A.D., the Baltic culture lived through a
resurgence, especially in the western
sections. Graves from this period yield many ornaments, weapons, and
other implements, variously designed. Trade relations were established
with Scandinavian countries, Kievan Russia, and western Europe.
However, at the dawn of history, the Prussians met their unhappy fate;
and between 1231 and 1288 they were conquered by the Order of the
Teutonic Knights. The Curonians, Semigallians, Selonians and
Lettigallians also fell under their control. Only the Lithuanians,
having established an independent state in the 13th century were able
not only to withstand the onslaught of the Order of the Teutonic
Knights, but also to expand their boundaries in
the east (see map Fig. 57, pp. 174-175).

VIII.
Religion.
The last chapter is devoted to the Baltic
religion.
Using written sources, folklore, and to some extant even archeological
findings, M. Gimbutas tries to reconstruct the main Characteristics of
the Baltic religion. She assigns the sanctuaries excavated in the
Smolensk area in 1955-57 to the eastern Balts. The role of Krivis, or
the chief priest, burial rites, vėlės,
various deities, sacred woods,
etc. are discussed. The discourse provides a reasonably accurate
picture of our knowledge of the Baltic religion, at the same time
leaving many questions still unanswered.

Short
Evaluation. In general, the study provides a good
summary work on
the Balts, their origin, culture, and territories. The author had to
taylor her work to fit the format of the series on Ancient Peoples and
Places. Consequently, she was able to only touch upon many questions; a
more definitive study on the Balts would require several such volumes.
Many questions still remain unanswered, some (like the problems of
eastern boundaries, eastern Baltic culture, Slavic expansion) awaiting
further findings. The illustrations in the present book are well-chosen
and the maps are technically well-executed. Only the bibliography at
the end of the work could have been more extensive.